Northern Lights: A Scorched Earth Novel

by Boyd Craven III

  “Now I wish I did do something to the batter,” she muttered and watched me chew it.

  It wasn’t that the flavor was off, it was actually kind of good tasting… it was just a different mouthfeel and the texture wasn’t the same light fluffiness I was expecting from my Waffle House experiences of years past.

  “It’s pretty good. Texture’s different. Did you use baking powder?” I asked her, wondering if that’s what was off.

  “No, I wanted to see if it would make a big difference. The starch powder was finer than the regular flour so I wasn’t sure if I needed it or not. And there’s a lot more cattail flour than the baking powder anyways.”

  “It’s not bad,” I admitted, “I was expecting to die of…”

  I grabbed my throat and choking sounds came out. Her eyes got huge. This had been the first time we’d tried the starch replacement. Falling off my seat and into the dirt, my legs kicked as I continued to make choking, gasping sounds. Right up until Tracy kicked me in the ass and I sat up grinning.

  “You’re an asshole,” she said pointing at me.

  “I know, it’s one of my finer qualities,” I said, quoting Jack Nicholson.

  She finished cooking her own pancake and plopped it on the plate. I snickered when the one side was half burned. I must have distracted her too much and she didn’t flip the first side fast enough, or the oil she’d used on the pan had absorbed or burned off. Either way, it only made me grin more and Brian kicked my foot right before I mentioned it aloud and snickered.

  “They said an hour after sunup?” Brian said, trying to take my mind off of revenge and picking on his wife.

  “Yeah. I figure that Betty Crocker here started cooking right about sunup, so when we finish breakfast and walk to the edge, it should be about time.”

  “Betty Crocker?” Tracy asked, picking up the spatula.

  The better to hit me with?

  “Ok, ok, Aunt Jemima?” I asked.

  “You’re digging the hole deeper,” Brian said.

  “I’ll shut up now,” I said and flinched when Tracy started swinging the spatula only to stop about a foot away from my shoulder.

  “Don’t let her hold a knife today, mmmmmmmmmkay?” I asked Brian.

  “No promises,” but he was smiling and she was. too.

  Maybe holding onto that hatred for so long blinded me to the fact that we could be more than ex’s. I’d gone from a very uncomfortable hatred, only tempered by Brian’s friendship, to actually getting along and teasing her. Life was really way too short, and I’d come a long way in both body and mind in the last few weeks.

  “Jordan will have eaten there, I’m assuming?” Tracy asked.

  “I wouldn’t use the word assume,” I told her, “but I am pretty sure they are going to feed him.”

  “Ok. The old man didn’t really seem like he wanted Jordan’s help, though.” Brian told me.

  “I know, I still don’t quite get it, but he looked pretty old school.”

  “Yeah, a bit older than I would have expected. He was probably in his mid-forties when he started having kids,” Tracy told me.

  “I didn’t quite mean it like that, but yeah. There’s probably a huge generational gap there and having Jordan around, he probably thought he was a snake oil salesman.”

  “It’s not like they have anything we want to con them out of,” Brian said.

  “How about the daughters trying to pimp each other out?” Tracy teased.

  “You never told me what she actually said,” I told them.

  “He’s not going to,” Tracy said with a sniff, put her nose in the air theatrically and headed down the trail.

  * * *

  “Why wouldn’t they be here?” I asked.

  “Nobody has a watch, man,” Brian said looking out across the water.

  The boat hadn’t moved much; we’d beached it high up on the sand and thrown the anchor line around a tree a couple times just in case, but it had moved. I wondered if the wind picked up on this lake more than the one we were camped out at.

  “Is it that simple?” Tracy asked, “Or should we just go out there and see?”

  She had a point.

  “We only have one more big can of gas,” I pointed out, “but with as little as we use the boat…”

  “It’ll probably go bad before we use it up,” Brian said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Unless Jordan and Tom start visiting their new lady friends,” Tracy said.

  “I don’t… wait, what?” I asked flustered.

  “Let’s push it in the water,” Brian said changing the subject.

  I’ll be honest, her words were a bit of a shock to me because I’d done almost zero dating in any recent history. In fact, there was only one serious girlfriend between Tracy and the present time. Lots of ladies went out with me on a date or two. Either I or they figured out that we weren’t compatible or one of us would start talking politics and storm out of the restaurant, bar, whatever.

  “You want to drive?” I asked them.

  “Naw, you’re the DD on this trip, why break tradition?” Tracy said with a grin.

  “Great. Wonderful.”

  The boat launched easily, and when Brian used the oar to pull us towards deeper water by pushing off the bottom, I pulled the starting cord and played with the throttle until the little motor hummed. I put it in gear and we headed out. I’d love to say I remembered the way there perfectly, but I guess I’d spent more time checking out Denise than I thought on the way there because Brian pointed out a direction I wasn’t headed in. I turned the way he pointed and was rewarded with the sight of the Wood’s dock a few moments later. The canoe was tied up to one side, which I took to be a bad sign.

  “Good thing we came, you think?” Brian asked.

  “They’re probably cannibals or the sisters have Jordan tied up in some sort of macabre, perverted and twisted—“

  “Ok already, you’re going to tell me what they said someday?” I interrupted Tracy.

  They had talked about it last night, just quiet enough to piss me off and neither of them would tell me what was said.

  “Still no, you’ll have to ask Denise,” Tracy said making a shushing motion with her finger over her lips.

  “Slow down, would ya?” Brian asked.

  With a start, I realized that I had been going towards the dock too quickly. I throttled down and put the small motor in reverse and gave it some juice. It worked and we slowed down quickly, stopping next to a cleat on the other side from the canoe.

  “Only ropes on the one side of the dock,” Brian said.

  “Use the anchor rope,” I told him, cutting the motor and grabbing the back cleat with my hands, pulling the back of the boat tight with the left side.

  We tied it off and stepped out onto the dock. We all walked towards the cabin and when we got close to the picnic table where Jordan had examined Mr. Wood the previous night, the door opened. Jordan stepped out, a grave expression on his face as he walked towards us.

  “Hey, man, how are things?” I asked him, concerned because of his expression.

  “It was his appendix,” Jordan said. “It burst just before we got in yesterday. I had to open him up and clean out what I could.” He flopped down on the picnic table.

  “You ok?” Tracy asked him, sitting next to him.

  Brian took the other side, but I stood there.

  “Yeah, just tired. The infection will likely spread throughout his body. I’m not sure that those z-packs are going to be enough, though,” he said.

  “How come?” I asked.

  “Toxic shock to the system, his age, a ton of factors. He’s already feverish. With Azithromycin you give two the first day, then one for like four more days. He’s had two pills now, going on three. In 12 hours it should already be starting to work in his system. So far it isn’t, and Tylenol and Ibuprofen aren’t knocking back the fever.”

  “What’s that mean?” Brian asked him.

  “He’s going into
shock, and the infection will likely kill him. Even if I’d opened him up the moment we landed, it was too late.”

  The screen door of the cabin banged open and Denise and Tonya came out. Both looked like they’d been crying. Their eyes were red and Tonya’s nose looked like it was rubbed raw. They took seats. There was extra room next to Denise and I ended up sitting after all.

  “How is he?” I asked stupidly.

  “He’s hot, then cold. He’s got the shivers,” Denise told me.

  Tonya started signing and Jordan and Denise signed back. Denise to me and said, “My sister said dad had the good luck to have a pervert like you checking me out from the lakeside and to tell you thank you.” She said with a slight grin.

  “Sorry about that,” I muttered, and Jordan smiled wolfishly and began signing in a flurry.

  I watched a second, amused slightly, but it was a somber moment and we were all trying not to think about the man who might be dying less than a hundred feet away.

  “No,” Jordan said, “I’m not going to tell him that,” he was smiling and instead turned to me. “Tonya wants to know what you thought about what Brian had to say.”

  This time my face didn’t burn so much as Denise’s did.

  “He wouldn’t tell me,” I admitted.

  It was true, he talked about me in front of Tracy, but not to me. I had the gist of the idea but…

  “Really?” Denise asked.

  “Yeah, but I think he’s got the main idea down,” Tracy told her in a gentle voice.

  That surprised me because yesterday and teasing me this morning I got the impression that she was being snippy/snarky and outright jealous when Brian wasn’t around. Then again, every time I thought I understood what was going through a woman’s head I usually turned out to be wrong. One day I’d have to write a book about it.

  “Oh, well…”

  An uncomfortable silence fell over the table. We sat like that for a while until something scared up two grouse near the water’s edge, about a hundred yards from the dock. I watched them fly up from the tall grass and land down near the edge of the trees closer to the area carved out of the woods by the cabin’s existence.

  “It’ll be some time till we know if it worked,” Jordan said aloud to Denise.

  “Daddy asked you to do the surgery; he must have figured it out when he got sicker last night.”

  “I know. He was dead set against it until the shakes hit and the fever kicked in. Your buddy did a good job. The incision was barely three inches. Done in about two minutes.”

  “Oh God,” I murmured, “what did you use for anesthetic?” I asked.

  “Vodka,” Jordan replied promptly.“Though the area was swollen and tender already. I think a lot of it was Mr. Wood just holding still and gritting his teeth. He’s a stubborn but tough old man. You two girls don’t lose hope.”

  Tonya started signing and Denise spoke, making her sister’s words come alive, “I don’t know what to do without my father. If somebody doesn’t come soon, Mom will weaken and die because she doesn’t have any more insulin. Were you able to find anything?” the last was asked as she turned towards me.

  “I looked through my stuff. I remember seeing something about it, but I didn’t bring that binder with me after all.” I admitted, truly sorry.

  “Thank you,” Denise said, “from both of us.”

  Tears fell silently down her cheek and somebody kicked my foot under the table. I looked and met Brian’s gaze. He never moved his head, but his eyes did. He looked at me and then flashed his glance over towards Denise. I got it, but I was waiting for the head motion. It didn’t come, so I put my arm around Denise and pulled her close in a one armed hug.

  She sobbed aloud for a moment. Tonya started crying, seeing her sister let loose, and Jordan stood and wrapped both arms around her in a body hug. She allowed it and leaned back into him, letting him comfort her.

  “You know,” Denise said, rubbing her nose on her sleeve, “as a prepper I always thought the end of the world would be zombies and explosions. Not dying from lack of modern medicine and starvation.”

  “Nobody’s dying,” I told her, wanting to wipe the tears away.

  Tracy leaned in on the other side of Denise and hugged her with her other arm.

  “Not yet,” Denise said to the group. “Without that medicine, I don’t know how long my mom has. She’s been on it for almost ten years now.”

  “We talked about this,” Jordan said softly and paused when Tonya reached up and tugged on his arm. He sat back down and started again, so Tonya could see his lips,.“We talked about this last night. We’ll do all that we can for her. Make her comfortable.”

  I looked at him sharply. I could tell he already had a crush going on with Tonya, but I was more surprised by his offer of help. I knew he would do it just based on who he was and how I knew he’d react, but to hear it and see the grateful expressions on the girls’ faces was still moving.

  “Mom was already becoming insulin resistant,” Denise told us, “so it’s not like we’re totally surprised, it’s just that both of them— “

  The screen door opened and Mrs. Wood walked out, “Denise, dear, can you and your friends come help me a moment?”

  “Yeah,” Denise called back, standing and breaking my one armed hug.

  We all stood as well and followed the ladies towards the cabin. The cabin itself was a newer log cabin, the wood still stained a golden color with cedar shake roofing. The porch was done up in rough-hewn pine, probably milled locally and stained to match. It was definitely a more lavish place than ours, but the outfitter who ran the lake the Wood’s were at might have had more money or resources to build his cabin.

  I ran my hands across the hand carved trim as I walked inside.

  “The outfitter was going to have this as his summer home when he retired. Said it was the most remote cabin he had. I had no clue there was another cabin so close,” Debora Wood said.

  “Over the forest and through the woods,” Denise sang out in a loud clear voice.

  “We have a different outfitter,” I told her. “They told me they used to run both lakes but sold off the rights to this one. I guess this one’s supposed to have better walleye fishing.”

  “There’s so many fish here, you could almost walk on the water,” Mrs. Wood said and Denise wiped her eyes and cracked a smile.

  “What can we give you a hand with mom?” Denise asked.

  “If we’re going to have guests , I want you to give me a hand with the cooking. I’m feeling a bit tired today.”

  That was an understatement. All of them, Jordan included, looked exhausted. I wondered if any of them had slept.

  “Sure, what are we going to have?” she asked.

  “See if you can scare us up some frogs. Your father liked them when you got him some the other week. Maybe he’ll eat if you get him some more.”

  “He’s not eating?” I asked.

  “Last couple of days the pain was so bad, he said it made his stomach hurt. I’m worried if he doesn’t…”

  Mrs. Wood turned away and stared out at the lake.

  “I’ll help,” I said.

  “Tonya, will you ask your new friends if they can help you with bringing the wood closer to the cabin?”

  Tonya signed back and her mother smiled, leaned over and kissed her on the forehead before making a shooing motion. I wondered if I was supposed to go with them or…

  “Come on,” Denise said, grabbing my hand and gently pulling me towards the front door,.“Unless you want to carry firewood.”

  “I’d rather catch frogs,” with you, I almost added.

  I knew the timing was wrong. I also knew I didn’t know Denise at all, but she’d been kind to me so far. The fact that I was close to double her age had me hesitant, but by all indications, she was interested.

  “You ever go frogging?”

  “No,” I admitted, “not on purpose.”

  “How’d you catch them by accident then?” she
asked me as we walked towards the water.

  “Usually trying to drop a hook through some thick lily pads to get at a bass or pike,” I admitted.

  “That’s pretty much frogging unless you want to spear them or grab them with your hands.”

  “I’m not dressed for wading in the muck,” I said, remembering that there were leeches in the swampy portions.

  “Yeah, I don’t like to do that either. We’ll take the canoe. I’ve got two fishing poles in it already.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I told her as she paused half a heartbeat to pick up a bucket that was next to the three steps going to the deck.

  I followed her to the canoe. There was water in it, just like there had been in our boat from the rain the night before, but it wasn’t much. A red solo cup floated near the back of the boat, where the person who steered sat.

  “You want to drive or paddle?” she asked, giving me a look.

  “I don’t have to be behind the wheel. Ladies choose,” I said blandly.

  “Uh huh, not a control freak. I was wondering, seeing as you drove the boat both times yesterday from here.”

  “No, not a control freak. I think I got designated because Jordan hasn’t used this one yet and Brian and Tracy don’t care much to do anything, besides making my life hell and making out.”

  “Old people make out?” Denise asked loudly.

  I couldn’t tell from her tone if she was joking or not. She knew the situation; I’d explained it. She couldn’t be that dense, could she?

  “Well, I don’t obviously, but they do. I think to piss me— “

  She busted up laughing, interrupting me. Just like that, she’d gone from somber to smiles and laughter. That said a lot for the kind of tension she must be feeling with both parents deathly sick.

  “You like to be in the middle of these little… fits?” she asked.

  “I don’t know if I like it so much as I find myself involved in them somehow,” I admitted.

  “You bring it on yourself.”

  “That’s possible,” I admitted.

  “Hm… you don’t have to be right all the time. I like that. You can sit in the front, you’ll paddle when we aren’t cruising for frogs.”